The grass was still wet from the morning dew when we wandered far from town. Kael had dared us to follow him deeper into the plains, promising some old ruins, a half-buried statue, or anything strange he'd spotted from a distance weeks ago. But what we found was nothing like that. A circular stone slab, hidden beneath a patch of tall grass, pulsed faintly with mana.
Rina was the first to say it, "This… is a dungeon."
I should've said no, turned around, told Kael he was insane. But instead, I stepped forward, we were 12 and believed we were invincible, hand hovering above the ancient markings etched into the stone. The instant my fingers grazed the glyphs; a sudden wind pulled all three of us inward. A flash of white, and we were gone.
The light vanished. I blinked. The ground beneath me was cold and smooth, not grass but polished obsidian. I pushed myself up slowly. We weren't in the plains anymore. Massive stone pillars surrounded us, covered in twisting runes, and a low hum filled the air like the dungeon itself was breathing.
"Where's the exit?" Rina asked, glancing back at the spot we had appeared. It was just a solid wall now.
Kael tried hitting it with a fireball. The impact flared but left no mark.
"We're trapped," I said, my voice quieter than I expected. "This place… it doesn't want us to leave."
The air was heavy. Not just with mana, but with something older, more alive. I could feel it pressing down on us.
We didn't have time to panic. Not even ten steps in, the dungeon made itself known. The floor split open. A dozen skeletal wolves, their bones scorched black and eyes glowing with violet light, crawled out.
Kael shouted, already hurling flame with practiced ease. Rina moved beside him, layers of water encasing her arms as she threw jagged shards of ice forward.
But I stepped back.
I felt it again, that humming. Not from the dungeon. From myself.
Wolves were just the first creatures that appeared.
Then, with a flick of my hand, I formed a wind arrow shooting and with 1 blow killing all of them.
Rina turned to me, panting. "Since when did you learn that?"
I didn't answer. I didn't fully know.
But more were coming.
I then used my light magic to form a glow around all 3 of us making it easier to see and we were shocked when we first saw the endless hallway, yet no monsters
For a moment, we were safe.
Kael grinned, wiping sweat off his brow. "Remind me never to mess with you."
We pressed on.
The dungeon was strange. The deeper we went, the more alive it seemed. Sometimes the floor pulsed under our feet, or the walls whispered words in languages we didn't recognize. There were traps too, floating darts made of bloodstone, rotating blades hidden in statues, even illusions trying to separate us.
It wasn't all smooth. Kael nearly lost his leg to a collapsing bridge. Rina had to ice over a poison gas vent we didn't spot in time. And me? I used a spell I didn't even know I had.
Before we knew it there was a golem right in front of us.
Light spiraled in my palm, forming a long lance of shifting energy. When I hurled it, the impact tore through the golem's chest like a meteor, leaving only fragments.
We made it to the first floor's end after what felt like hours. A circular chamber opened before us, lit with eerie green fire. There, on a pedestal, was a silver pendant. The moment we approached, the door behind us slammed shut.
From the darkness beyond the walls, a shape began to form. It wasn't beast or man. Just pain. It screamed without a mouth, thrashed without limbs. A creature made of raw dungeon energy, trying to tear us apart with nothing but force.
I held out both hands. "Cover me."
Kael didn't question it. Flames erupted, walls of heat pushing back the creature. Rina followed, layering us with a bubble of crystal-infused water.
A sphere pulsed from my chest. For an instant, everything froze. The dungeon, the creature, even time seemed to halt. Then, with a burst of radiant black-and-white energy, the creature disintegrated into dust.
The silence after was overwhelming.
We stood there, breathing hard, staring at each other.
Kael finally spoke, "…We're alive."
Rina laughed, breathless, shaky. "We're going to die if we do that again."
But I was still staring at my hands.
What was that spell?
The pendant pulsed once as I picked it up. And from the center of the floor, a staircase slowly unfolded, spiraling downward.
"This isn't over," I said quietly.
And we stepped forward, unaware of how deep this place truly went.
This was just the beginning.